10 Best Heart Rate Monitors to Track Your Fitness and Health Goals

There comes a point in most people's fitness journey where they hit a plateau. You're hitting the gym on a regular basis and doing all the correct exercises to target various muscle groups, but you're just not seeing the results you want to. So, what gives?

It has to do with your heart rate. Understanding your resting heart rate and how to manipulate your heart rate variability (HRV) is the key to unlocking that next level of performance in your workouts. You've probably seen pro athletes wearing heart rate monitors in the gym or during training, which can help you track these important metrics to maximize your workout and to exercise more effectively.

Generally speaking, your resting heart rate will become lower as your fitness level increases, indicating more efficient heart function and improved cardiovascular fitness. If your resting heart rate increases unexpectedly, then this may mean you’re overtraining and need to give your body some well-needed rest in order to reset.

Heart rate variability (HRV) describes the variance in time between the beats of your heart. The greater the variability, the more ready, reactive, and responsive your body is in your workout, which leads to better, faster results. HRV is highly individualized and what constitutes an ideal or healthy heart rate variability depends on your fitness goals and your own personal health metrics. If you're working out consistently, over time you should see a gradual increase in your average heart rate variability. If your HRV is lower than your usual, then it may be a sign that you're overly fatigued and need to recover.

Understanding your heart rate and tracking your HRV can help you gain a better understanding of your overall health and well-being, including how changes in nutrition, sleep, stress levels, or illness is affecting you.

Ready to take your training to the next level? Read on to find the best heart rate monitors for you to use to track your fitness and health goals.

Best Heart Rate Monitor

• Best To Wear Outside the Gym: Oura Ring Generation 3
• Best Heart Rate Monitor and Smartwatch: Samsung Galaxy Watch 4
• Best For Runners: Garmin HRM-Dual Heart Rate Monitor
• Best for the Multi-Sport Athlete: SUUNTO Smart Heart Rate Sensor Belt
• Best for The Weekend Warrior: Apple Watch Series 6
• Best for the Amateur Athlete: Wahoo TICKR X Heart Rate Monitor
• Best Affordable Heart Rate Monitor: CooSpo Heart Rate Monitor
• Best for the Data-Obsessed: Fitbit Versa 3 Health & Fitness Smartwatch
• Best Overall: WHOOP SuperKnit Luxe Band 4.0